Why?
Not “why” as in “why should you reconsider your presence?” After all, new developments in social media and recent (much less attractive) developments in the marketplace necessitate some new thinking.
But “why” as in “why are you invested in an online presence” in the first place.
As a copywriter, I see the cart put before the horse all too often. Here’s sample dialog from a typical project discussion:
Client: “We’re refreshing our site and need some help with the copy.”
Me: “Terrific. But why? What’s the purpose of your site?”
Client: [LONG PAUSE] “You know…it’s a website. What do you mean?”
Well, here’s what I mean. There are some crucial questions you should ask. Before you invest in a new architecture. New design. New features. Before you chase blogs, podcasts, RSS, video, etc. Before you spread yourself thin on LinkedIn, FaceBook, etc. These questions include:
Who do you anticipate arriving on your site? What do they want? What are they looking for?
What do you want them to do once they’ve arrived? What impression do you want them to form? What next steps would you like them to take?
Most importantly, how does your site (and by extension, your entire online presence), fit within your marketing and sales strategy? What role does it play? Do site visits, for example, serve as a first point of contact for many prospects? For potential buyers doing research? Or does your site provide added evidence/depth for prospects who are already in motion along your sales pipeline? Or both?
Basic stuff, right? But, damn, I wish I had a dollar for every site that has been launched without applied thought to any of these issues.
You have to ask these questions. Because the answers will give you the all-important clarity and insight you need to determine your navigation structure. The tone of your landing pages. The offers you should or should not make online. The features and/or communications vehicles you should invest in (and the ones not worth your time/money). And so on.
The right answers will be found at the intersection of what your qualified prospects need and what you want them to do. Go there. And do it before you scatter your energies all over the marketing map.
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Like Jonathan, I would have a healthy savings account if every site that fails to understand why they want or need a web presence gave me a dollar. Not only do you need to understand your business goals (all the things Jonathan mentioned such as how does the site fit into your marketing strategy) but you need to understand why customers and prospects will come to the site.
Many companies forget or are not aware of the impact the web has on its brand. Some mistakenly think that just because the brand is strong offline, what happens on the web doesn’t matter. Wrong! The experience people have on your web site very much affects brand perception and conversion, such as likelihood to recommend, return, purchase, register, etc. For many prospects the home page is the first impression of your brand. Is your home page generating new customers or sending them to your competitors?
If you already have a web site and have not received any feedback or conducted customer research, consider a two-step approach to a web site re-fresh. First, look internally and answer the business questions Jonathan suggests. Understand why you have the web site from a business point of view. Second, ask your web site visitors about their experience.
My recommendation is to conduct true experience research where you intercept people naturally visiting your site. Ask them why they are there, what they plan to achieve, and then let them complete their tasks. If you can, track their behavior while they complete their tasks so you can compare actual vs. self-reported behavior. When they are done with the site visit, ask them some questions about the experience. Often you will be surprised at what you learn.
One company I worked for developed their site from a corporate point of view. They had everything possible about the company available on the site to read. When we asked visitors why they came to the site we found the most common reason was to find one of the offline stores. The web site did not include store locations. As a result of the study, subsequent versions of the web site included information visitors were looking for.
As Jonathan mentions, understanding your business and visitors goals will help you develop a much stronger web site and will help inform the design in terms navigation, tone, and other aspects. Developing better web sites will help that will increase conversion and brand value.